After negotiating a 150 baht ($4.50) ride across Bangkok, my man ashed his cigarette on my hand and threw me on the back. As he proceeded to tear through downtown during rush hour, I scoped his speedometer for a speed check; it was broken. So was something else according this check engine light. Then noticed the only other item on his moped keychain was a bottle opener. Bad things happen in threes so after they were out of the way I felt confident enough to challenge my new favorite, reckless, possibly tipsy, monolingual driver to break some moped speed records.

Sketchiness aside, in my two short days in Thailand I’ve gotten to-and-fro via car taxi, river taxi, Skytrain and my feet but hands down my new favorite are these moped taxis! They wear orange vests and with a whistle or just by holding a map in your hand they’ll whip up onto the sidewalk and go wherever you point your finger. They’re faster, cheaper and more exciting than any other transportation I’ve experience.